Danube Water Levels Low

[Viking Cruises]

Dear Viking Guests,

 

We know you have questions and we know some of you have complaints. We thank you for your input and assure you that we are listening. The magnitude of this late-season drought was not immediately apparent, but we have made adjustments each day in an effort to continually provide you with our very best. For each of the Danube and Rhine sailings that are effected in December, we are providing shipboard credit, complimentary optional excursions, and credit to use on a future cruise. Should you decide instead to not join us, we will provide you with a credit for 100% of your cruise fare towards a future cruise.

 

We understand that you want answers about how your itinerary may need to be altered. We will continue to update our future guests via email with additional information as it becomes available. We have also made all of these communications available on our website here: http://www.vikingrivercruises.com/about/vikingnews.aspx. We will continue to keep this information on our website updated as well.

 

For those who joined us in November and had their itinerary altered by the low water levels of the rivers, we are working hard to address your concerns and will also be sending you a credit voucher for a future cruise.

 

And as always, we are happy to hear from you directly at TellUs@vikingrivercruises.com.

 

Regards,

Viking River Cruises

[at_nyc]

For each of the Danube and Rhine sailings that are effected in December, we are providing shipboard credit, complimentary optional excursions, and credit to use on a future cruise. Should you decide instead to not join us, we will provide you with a credit for 100% of your cruise fare towards a future cruise.

Hear! Hear!

 

None of that was provided for us in our cruises. But it's now offered for next week's cruise! Why? Because we complained in public!

 

Paulmj, see who cares? :D

[greenman1168]

:) at_nyc

 

Thanks, Viking, it is heartening to know that Viking River Cruises is listening, and cares about their passengers.

[at_nyc]

While in the process of submiting my trip review, I can't help but to browse through reviews of the same ship Legend, and found

a review was from one year ago.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=76993

 

Most shocking to me was this:

 

"What we most resented was that is was glaringly obvious were not being told the whole story. I had to go on this site to see the same ship had problems on the cruise before ours. If they had only been up front it would have been better. But instead they infantilized us and tried herding us endlessly onto busses. We paid for a cruise, not a bus tour. "

 

So it's exactly the same kind of behavior from Viking, lying about a known problem. Putting customers through the ordeal.

 

December 2010, and now.

[LHT28]

I have researched river cruises for a few years & noticed the high/low water level issue

While I have resisted in booking a river cruise for this reason we are going to take a chance ... we booked one for next year

If it turns into a bus tour I will not be happy but I AM well aware this could happen

Maybe the river cruise lines should not offer trips after Oct then there would not be so many unhappy customers or at least offer a full refund

 

I do not think they have much control over the river levels ...it can be great one year & not the next

They make their best guess if it will be sailing or busing

 

I think if you are booking a river cruise you have to be aware it could be a bus trip

 

This is just my outlook on life ...nothing ever seems to go as planned so make the best of a bad situation

 

YMMV

 

Lyn

[suspaul]

Leaving in a few hours for the Rhine Getaway with Viking, arrive in Basel tomorrow and yes, looks like the first few days will involve hotels/buses and road trips but hey.....we're glad to be going. Have traveled with Viking before and will travel with Viking again. Sick to death of all of the Viking bashing - they are not the only river line having these same issues.

 

Sorry life was so unfair for many on these boards but it is just that.....life!

 

Pleasant holidays to all.

[at_nyc]

Maybe the river cruise lines should not offer trips after Oct then there would not be so many unhappy customers or at least offer a full refund

Had they offered a re-scheduling of the customers BEFORE those customers were to set off, they would have many fewer unhappy ones to make refund to.

 

But instead, they sail with nearly full capacity and now have to deal with "boat load" of unhappy customers.

 

they are not the only river line having these same issues.

But they're the only one who try their upmost to keep their customers in the dark!

 

Other cruise lines had informed their customers prior to departure. Some even offer compensation up front, and give option for those who don't want the bus to re-schedule for another time.

 

Sick to death of all of the Viking bashing -

Where did first you hear about the low water issue? From Viking?

[ninthisland]

So sorry to hear of your situation:(. I truly understand how disappointed you are. I am not surprised to hear that you cannot get further down river then Regensberg since we were bussed from Passau where we got off the Tapestry because it could go no further up river due to low water levels to reach Regensberg. Apparently there is a very low stretch of water difficult to transit between Passau and Regensberg right now. You will probably be bussed to Passau and hopefully still given the option to do the day trip to Salzburg as it was quite lovely with the Christmas Markets and then on to Vienna. Hopefully Avalon will communicate in a timely manner what the remaining trip plans are to the passangers, either on to another boat for the remainder of your downriver trip to Vienna or Hotels. I can understand your disappointment about not being able to enjoy the view from your Panorama suite. I can only hope that Avalon does right by their guests under weather circumstances beyond anyone's control yet wanting their passangers to have as much of the enjoyable vacation they planned for. I hope you have been able to take advantage of your time on the Panorama and get to make the most of the stops in the ports you will be visiting. Keep us posted for how the situation is handled on your trip as I know all cruises are handled differently. Is Robert Z. your Cruise Director for your trip? Best of Luck, I will keep my fingers crossed for you.:)

 

I know it has taken a while but I am finally able to update you one the progress of our disastrous cruise on the Panorama. As I said previously we were ushered off the Panorama at Regensburg. We were all informed at 8.00 pm on the previous evening that we were not proceeding on the river. We were informed that we were leaving by bus on the following morning via a visit to Melk and would proceed to Bratislava in Slovakia, where we would be put up in a 5 star hotel, according to the " delightful" Robert, for the next 2 nights as there was no room for us in Vienna.

We left at 8 am, drove for four and a half hours to have lunch in the restaurant at the Abbey, followed by a tour of the Abbey at Melk. We left there at 3.45 pm and drove until 6.45 pm and arrived at a very much NOT 5 star hotel in Bratislava.

Dinner at 8.00 pm which meant eating at 9 pm where Robert gave out another revamped schedule - version who knows what. We were told to be ready at 8 am the Friday morning, the last day of our " cruise" to do a tour of Vienna in the morning and those who had earlier purchased a tour of Schonnbrun palace went after lunch. We met the bus at 5 pm and arrived back at the hotel in Bratislava at 6.30 pm.

Robert's only input from this was to place several sheets in the hotel lobby instructing us as to what time we would be transferred by bus into Vienna to complete our vacation with Avalon.

I must say that we were given a letter stating that Avalon would reimburse us 2 nights of our vacation that we did not have on the ship. What this will amount to is anyone's guess. There has been absolutely no communication at any time about these changes until just before they were happening.

Knowing what I had read of your journey before we began this fiasco made me so disappointed in the way they have handled our situation. It was as if this was a great secret. I have actually felt like some sort of hostage being taken along on a ride I was most unhappy about. Any attempt to find out what was happening was met with disdain, ridicule and contempt. I hate being treated like some poor child on a school trip with a bad tempered teacher.

I know that many of the cruise passengers are furious with the way they have been treated, with the way they have been misinformed and with the way that no alternate plans for dealing with this situation were put in place. It would also seem that there was never any attempt for us to be transferred to another ship. We have actually spent any incredible amount of time sitting on a bus with no idea as to where we were or when we would be stopping. At no time was anyone given the choice of not taking this cruise. To make matters worse Robert's parting words this morning when we were to arrive in Vienna at the hotel where some were staying after the cruse, was not to get mixed up with those passengers starting the next Christmastime on the Danube cruise which begins today. So it would seem that the next cruise is to proceed even though the last two that we know of have been badly affected.

I must say though that we have had a fantastic cruise with UNIWORLD on the Rhine before we did this one with Avalon. We could not have had a better time with Uniworld and are keen to book future cruises with them.

Time will tell how this pans out with many disgruntled passengers. All the best with your future travels

[imisseurope]

While in the process of submiting my trip review, I can't help but to browse through reviews of the same ship Legend, and found

a review was from one year ago.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=76993

 

Most shocking to me was this:

 

"What we most resented was that is was glaringly obvious were not being told the whole story. I had to go on this site to see the same ship had problems on the cruise before ours. If they had only been up front it would have been better. But instead they infantilized us and tried herding us endlessly onto busses. We paid for a cruise, not a bus tour. "

 

So it's exactly the same kind of behavior from Viking, lying about a known problem. Putting customers through the ordeal.

 

December 2010, and now.

 

Where can I find your review? I looked at "member reviews" on this site and clicked on Viking (for cruise line), but yours is not there? Sorry, I am

fairly new to these boards.

[at_nyc]

Where can I find your review? I looked at "member reviews" on this site and clicked on Viking (for cruise line), but yours is not there? Sorry, I am

fairly new to these boards.

I'm as new to this as you are. :)

 

I got a message saying something like: "thanks for submitting a review. We'll review your review (to that effect, forgot the original wording) and post them. It'll take a couple days at most".

[bgtravler]

Things have apparently changed somewhat. Arrived in Vienna for a cruise Dec 3rd on the Avalon Panorama from Vienna to Nuremberg. When we arrived at the cruise meeting point, were amazed to be told that the Panorama had made it to Vienna and we would board in several hours and are expected to make it to Nuremberg. Don't know if it rained that much while we were in transit, but something must have changed from what we were hearing earlier. We are on the Panorama, had the city tour today and are supposed to pullout at 11PM this evening . Will keep you posted as we are able.

[ninthisland]

Things have apparently changed somewhat. Arrived in Vienna for a cruise Dec 3rd on the Avalon Panorama from Vienna to Nuremberg. When we arrived at the cruise meeting point, were amazed to be told that the Panorama had made it to Vienna and we would board in several hours and are expected to make it to Nuremberg. Don't know if it rained that much while we were in transit, but something must have changed from what we were hearing earlier. We are on the Panorama, had the city tour today and are supposed to pullout at 11PM this evening . Will keep you posted as we are able.

So glad for you that you have made it on board the Panorama and all the best for your journey, after the trip we have just had leaving Nuremberg last Sunday the 29th November and only making it to Regensberg I am amazed that this was possible. I do hope they do the right thing for your cruise. They will certainly want to smarten up their act. I will appreciate further news. All the best. The crew and ship are just lovely.

[blablabla]

:(As of this date I have been told nothing from Viking on our upcoming trip. No letter, no E-mail, No phone call. What is really going on with the water level situation on the Danube???

 

;)I have read a post of how Avalon handled this situation and allowed people to cancel with a full refund prior to departure. That is a fair way to treat your customers.

 

:(I have read that people we bused almost the entire trip and given poor treatment and were left on buses for hours and then given lousy food, poor tours and service. This is horrible!!!

 

:(I am sure this situation is some what fluid ( no pun intended) but weather is some what predictable and if there is no water then no cruise.You all know how many inches of rain it would take to effectivly navigate this river! If there is no cruise then refund our money we will gladly book at a later date with Viking.

 

:(Remember Viking, you sold me a River Cruise and you have prior knowledge that the water levels are too low to cruise, I would say this is a breach of our agreement if you fly me to Europe for a bus tour. This is not what we paid for and unless something drastically changes it would be best for all if you canceled this Dec. 17-27 2011 trip!:(

[ninthisland]

:(As of this date I have been told nothing from Viking on our upcoming trip. No letter, no E-mail, No phone call. What is really going on with the water level situation on the Danube???

 

;)I have read a post of how Avalon handled this situation and allowed people to cancel with a full refund prior to departure. That is a fair way to treat your customers.

 

:(I have read that people we bused almost the entire trip and given poor treatment and were left on buses for hours and then given lousy food, poor tours and service. This is horrible!!!

 

:(I am sure this situation is some what fluid ( no pun intended) but weather is some what predictable and if there is no water then no cruise.You all know how many inches of rain it would take to effectivly navigate this river! If there is no cruise then refund our money we will gladly book at a later date with Viking.

 

:(Remember Viking, you sold me a River Cruise and you have prior knowledge that the water levels are too low to cruise, I would say this is a breach of our agreement if you fly me to Europe for a bus tour. This is not what we paid for and unless something drastically changes it would be best for all if you canceled this Dec. 17-27 2011 trip!:(

FYI Avalon have not offered this cancellation option to all cruises. Our cruise left Nuremberg to make it as far as Regensburg and then bussing to a country not even on the itinerary so that they could put us in a hotel somewhere. Then to add insult to injury we discover that the next cruise left as scheduled from Vienna on the 3rd December. It would seem that they needed to offload all of us with our luggage so that they could get the ship to Vienna. Too bad that they ruined our holiday in the process

[at_nyc]

Waiting to see how Uniworld and AMA customers are treated.

 

Over the weekend, it's been recommended to me that one contact the state attorney general (California and Massachusetts for Viking) about the handling of the situation. Anyone live in those state?

 

Further more, if more than one cruise lines are treating their customer like sacks of patato, perhaps it's time to contact your local congressman and work on getting a River Cruise Customer Bill of Rights. Remember not long ago JetBlue stranded their passengers inside the plane for hours, and the public outcry resulted in a bill of Air Travel Passenger Bill of Rights. River cruise lines need to be held to a similar standard. When over 50% of the itinerary ended up on buses, they must refund their customer's money.

[BPCruiser]

FYI Avalon have not offered this cancellation option to all cruises. Our cruise left Nuremberg to make it as far as Regensburg and then bussing to a country not even on the itinerary so that they could put us in a hotel somewhere. Then to add insult to injury we discover that the next cruise left as scheduled from Vienna on the 3rd December. It would seem that they needed to offload all of us with our luggage so that they could get the ship to Vienna. Too bad that they ruined our holiday in the process

 

Ninthisland,

I am so sorry to hear how your Avalon Panorama cruise was handled poorly by Avalon. There should be some consistency on their approach to their customers with regards to reimbursement and /or cancellation. If I were you, I would want some explanation as to why your tour was off -loaded in Regensburg yet the Panorama was able to make it to Vienna to continue the Vienna to Nuremburg cruise scheduled for Dec. 3rd??

 

I don't know if we were offered the option to cancel our cruise based on change of ship from Panorama to Tapestry because we were 6 days out from embarcation and arrival in Budapest and had not even flown out from the US yet or if it was because we had our trip insurance via Avalon or why that was even an option for us. Obviously, we opted to go the route of the discounted cruise fare and on-board ship credit for the changes they knew well in advance were going to take place for our Nov. 16th sailing. However in the interest of all current and potential future Avalon customers, their handling of the situation shoud have consistency if they want to keep their reputation intact. I would certainly continue your calls and/or letters to the higher up management levels at Avalon Corporate until you reach a satifaction that you can live with. Good Luck!!

[ninthisland]

Ninthisland,

I am so sorry to hear how your Avalon Panorama cruise was handled poorly by Avalon. There should be some consistency on their approach to their customers with regards to reimbursement and /or cancellation. If I were you, I would want some explanation as to why your tour was off -loaded in Regensburg yet the Panorama was able to make it to Vienna to continue the Vienna to Nuremburg cruise scheduled for Dec. 3rd??

 

I don't know if we were offered the option to cancel our cruise based on change of ship from Panorama to Tapestry because we were 6 days out from embarcation and arrival in Budapest and had not even flown out from the US yet or if it was because we had our trip insurance via Avalon or why that was even an option for us. Obviously, we opted to go the route of the discounted cruise fare and on-board ship credit for the changes they knew well in advance were going to take place for our Nov. 16th sailing. However in the interest of all current and potential future Avalon customers, their handling of the situation shoud have consistency if they want to keep their reputation intact. I would certainly continue your calls and/or letters to the higher up management levels at Avalon Corporate until you reach a satifaction that you can live with. Good Luck!!

 

Thank you for your sentiments. I have contacted Avalon via email and received a reply stating that in their concern for passenger safety changes are made to schedules on an hourly basis and according to them these changes are made independent of each other cruise. They seem to be able to make changes well ahead in your case but in our case they were unable to keep passengers informed when we all knew that things were amiss. They would just not tell anyone on board.

According to them they fulfilled their requirements in taking us to some of the places on the itinerary, but they fail to admit that there were places on the itinerary that we did not go near. There are many passengers from our tour that are disgusted to know that we were offloaded complete with luggage in what now seems to be a requirement to enable them to sail the ship to Vienna. I wonder what will happen to the passengers who are now on the Panorama once they get to Passau. If there is no rain I can imagine them being offloaded and bussed the rest of the way to Prague. We have been on Vienna since the end of the "cruise" and there has been no rain at all.

We intend to take this further.

[bgtravler]

Quick update from Avalon Panorama. Left Vienna as scheduled last night and made it to Durnstein/Melk as scheduled. Ninthisland, sorry to hear our good luck may have been at your expense. We are headed to Linz and Passau now. Scheduled to reach Passau around 5PM tomorrow. Discussion of our schedule by cruise director this evening indicates they are expecting we will make it through to Nuremberg. (We will have to see) Rain has been forecast since we arrived in Vienna, but we have only had a minor shower one day. Don't know where it may have rained to effect the water levels so we are keeping our fingers crossed. Will post later to advise if we were able to continue beyond Passau. So far it has been enjoyoable trip other than the drama about water levels and how river cruisers in general are being effected.Hope it rains somewhere soon and that those of you who have upcoming trips are able to enjoy them.

[ninthisland]

So glad to hear that you are having a great cruise and that you are getting to see the places on the itinerary. You really must keep on to the cruise director to keep you informed. I think that was our greatest error in that we expected them to do the right the right thing and they had no intention of being honest with us. You do live and learn. I have contacted Avalon and have been told that they always do everything in the best interest of passenger safety, which I am sure is true. The issue with our cruise was no communication, honesty about the situation or forward planning to have an alternative means of providing an adequate level of holiday for the considerable amount of money we had paid.

Thanks so much for the update and do enjoy the rest of your cruise. It certainly is a beautiful ship and the permanent crew are marvelous.

[BPCruiser]

So glad to hear that you are having a great cruise and that you are getting to see the places on the itinerary. You really must keep on to the cruise director to keep you informed. I think that was our greatest error in that we expected them to do the right the right thing and they had no intention of being honest with us. You do live and learn. I have contacted Avalon and have been told that they always do everything in the best interest of passenger safety, which I am sure is true. The issue with our cruise was no communication, honesty about the situation or forward planning to have an alternative means of providing an adequate level of holiday for the considerable amount of money we had paid.

Thanks so much for the update and do enjoy the rest of your cruise. It certainly is a beautiful ship and the permanent crew are marvelous.

 

I do agree that the permanent crew of the Panorama was "Marvelous". Many were the same we had on our 1st Avalon cruise in Oct. 2010 on the Affinity and they transferred over to the new Panorama when she was launched. We were so happy our 2 days on the Panorama being with the familiar crew faces we knew so well from our 10 days on the Affinity. Dan the Hotel Manager, Peter the Restaurant Manager, the Front Desk Receptionionist and even Vesko, the Muscian. They are wonderful, it felt like being back with old friends and I know how many different passengers they see on a weekly basis.

 

Ninthisland, if it is of any help to you to pursue a letter to Avalon Corporate, we all had a formal letter in our cabins of the Tapestry at embarcation from a Sabine C. Steffen (VP of Product Development with Avalon) who outlined their "good will" reimbursement provided by Avalon to those who decided not to cancel but continue on with the cruise with the ship changes as made. Obviously the communication of this good will trip reimbursement vs total trip cancellation with the option of total trip cost reimbursement was via their contact persons who spoke with our Travel Agent the day we were packing to fly to Budapest. Maybe communication to this VP at Avalon might get you a better response. Good Luck!!

[blablabla]

I have a novel idea , why don't you contact your paying customers!!!

 

 

Dear Viking Guests,

 

We understand that you have questions and concerns about how river water levels have affected your cruise, or if your upcoming trip will be affected. Please consider that we always do our best to provide you with accurate, up-to-date information regarding itineraries that are specific to ships and destinations around the world. Weather-related changes that are beyond our control are particularly challenging, but we will continue to do everything in our power to provide you with a wonderful travel experience.

 

If you have recently returned from a cruise and are disappointed with how it was affected by the river levels, please first accept our apologies and then contact us directly so that we may discuss your concerns with your personally.

 

If you have questions about your upcoming cruise, we also encourage you to contact us directly so that we may address your questions on an individual basis as they will pertain to your ship and itinerary.

 

In each case you can reach us at TellUs@vikingrivercruises.com or 1.877.668.4546, extension 4525 (Customer Relations).

 

With warm regards and best wishes for a happy holiday season,

Viking River Cruises

[Viking Cruises]

Dear Viking Travelers,

 

With cautious optimism we are happy to report that our nautical department predicts that current rain along the Danube and particularly in the drainage area of the Rhine, will lead to improved sailing conditions. Based on this information we are continuing to work on adjustments to each itinerary and ship affected. We believe that by next week only minor modifications to our itineraries will be needed — and hopefully in some cases, no modifications at all.

 

We ask that you please continue to bear with us. For those departing on December 10th or 11th, we will again update you via email as soon as possible regarding contingency plans for your itinerary, but no later than Wednesday. Again, these updates will also be posted to our website: http://www.vikingrivercruises.com/about/vikingnews.aspx

 

Please contact us at TellUs@vikingrivercruises.com with any additional questions.

 

Thank you for your continued patience,

Viking River Cruises

[Viking Cruises]

I have a novel idea , why don't you contact your paying customers!!!

 

Dear blablabla,

 

Please accept our apologies if you have not received the emails with updates regarding your December 17 trip. Copies of these emails are available on our website here: http://www.vikingrivercruises.com/about/vikingnews.aspx.

 

Please contact us at TellUs@vikingrivercruises.com so that we can verify that we have your correct email address and try to address your specific questions and concerns.

 

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Viking River Cruises

[steamboats]

As posted in another thread, yes it´s raining in Southern Germany. And - I´ve only checked the Danube river - the river levels are going up! In the critical area between Passau and Regensburg the low water warning has changed from "very low" to only "low".

 

steamboats

[mtnmomma]

As posted in another thread, yes it´s raining in Southern Germany. And - I´ve only checked the Danube river - the river levels are going up! In the critical area between Passau and Regensburg the low water warning has changed from "very low" to only "low".

 

steamboats

Thank you, Steamboat for all your input on the river levels situation. It has definitely helped us and, I'm sure, others as well. Looking forward to our upcoming cruise now that there has been some rain and there is the hope that it won't be necessary to be bussed a lot of the way. Viking has informed us by email recently about the low water levels and added that there is rain in the forecast and the hope is that we will be able to keep to the schedule. They will update us again as the trip gets closer.

Again, thanks to you for your timely information.